Abstract:

This study contributes to a growing body of knowledge
about diet and about exercise behaviors of young adults.
This information is needed if we are to plan public health
campaigns designed to reduce the risk of chronic disease
through more healthful eating habits and a more active
lifestyle.
A questionnaire was mailed to a random sample of 18-24
year old Oregonians. It included questions about factors
influencing food choices, exercise behavior questions, and a
food frequency questionnaire. The final sample of 57
exercisers and 70 non-exercisers was examined for
differences in opinion about the healthfulness of specific
foods, relatedness between opinions and consumption of these
foods, and general adequacy of dietary intake.
Factor analysis demonstrated a relationship between the
constructs "not fattening/fattening" and "good for my
health/not good for my health", which we called the
"healthfulness" factor and examined further.
Opinion about the healthfulness of 20 foods was
evaluated. Exercisers were similar to non-exercisers, and
in general did not have stronger opinions about the
healthfulness of certain foods than the non-exercisers.
There were more differences among exercisers stratified by
those exercising more frequently, and those exercising less
frequently.
Consumption of most foods was not related to opinions
about the healthfulness of the food for exercisers or nonexercisers. It may be that opinions about the healthfulness
of a food, influence a young adult's consumption of that
food, but only for foods not considered very tasty.
Neither exercisers nor non-exercisers had dietary
intakes which compared well with Food Guide Pyramid minimum
recommendations, although exercisers did come closer to
eating 2 fruits per day than did non-exercisers. For other
food groups the trend was for more exercisers to meet the
minimum recommendations than non-exercisers, and more males
to meet the minimum intakes than females. Overall,
consumption of the meat/meat alternate group was closest to
recommendations, followed by fruits, grains, dairy, and
vegetables.
Both groups rated highly the importance of eating
nutritious foods, while exercisers felt more confident in
their ability to read nutrition labels. Young adults
perceive time to be their scarcest resource in matters of
food consumption.